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Jubilee Line: Green Park to Canada Water

St James's Park
St James's Park

Today might be one of the shortest sections in my entire tubewalk, but it's packed with things to see, and it excels at showing how London is made up of both rich and poor, rubbing shoulders with only the thin veneer of the class system to separate them. It takes in two Royal Parks, the earthy world of the southern railway termini, the Southwark end of the South Bank, and the changing-by-the-minute world of Bermondsey.

Green Park to Westminster

Bridgewater House from Green Park
Bridgewater House from Green Park

Most of the walk between Green Park and Westminster passes through two Royal Parks, and like all the Royal Parks, they are wonderful. Green Park is the least embroidered of all the parks, and apart from the low-lying Canada Memorial in the southwest of the park, there are no lakes or fountains and precious little flamboyance; the atmosphere is one of gently rolling grassland punctuated with trees, while the grand buildings of St James's line up along the eastern fringe of the park. On a sunny day, Green Park is full of deckchairs and people picnicking; on a gloomy day like today – the first day back at work after the bank holiday and psychologically the end of summer and the start of autumn – even the deckchairs can't be bothered, and they simply sit in piles by the side of the grass.

Horseguards Parade from the bridge on St James's Park Lake
Horseguards Parade from the bridge on St James's Park Lake
Big Ben
Big Ben

Westminster to Waterloo

The London Eye, as seen from Westminster Bridge
The London Eye, as seen from Westminster Bridge

The view from Westminster Bridge is a classic, and with the Houses of Parliament to the southwest and the London Eye to the northeast, it's hard to know which way to turn. Luckily, the council has smothered the northern side of the bridge in hoardings so the choice is a lot simpler, but it does make crossing the bridge a lot less interesting.

Waterloo to Southwark

Ipsden Flats
Ipsden Flats

It isn't very far from Waterloo to Southwark station, which is just inside the boundary of the London Borough of Southwark. It might seem odd to create a new station so close to an existing one, but this is a part of the world that could benefit from some regeneration, and the signs are good. It can get a bit gritty around the mainline stations – they somehow seem to retain a slightly industrial Victorian atmosphere, probably because nobody wants to live that close to a train station, leaving industry to fill the gaps – but there are some rather lush modern conversions along Wootton Street that manage to blend in nicely with the surroundings, and along Cons Street are the Peabody Trust's Ipsden Flats, which still look fantastic and demonstrate just how good social housing can look.

Southwark station
Southwark station

Southwark to London Bridge

The original Blackfriars station
The original Blackfriars station

Just north of Southwark station are the remains of a much older station, the original Blackfriars station on the Charing Cross Railway. There was a station here from to on the line from London Bridge to Charing Cross, but the station was closed when the nearby Waterloo East station was opened instead. There's evidence of bomb damage in the glazed tiling from the same bombing raid that destroyed the Blackfriars Ring, and the outside of the station, which houses a small café, has recently been refurbished.

The statue outside the Blue Fin Building: 'Don't applaud, just throw money'
The statue outside the Blue Fin Building: 'Don't applaud, just throw money'
The Globe pub
Bridget Jones's house, apparently
London Bridge station
London Bridge station

London Bridge to Bermondsey

Bermondsey Street
Bermondsey Street

The tourists evaporate as soon as you slip out the other side of the station, past the entrance to Guy's Hospital (which, interestingly, has a McDonald's right by the entrance, like a modern-day money-lender outside the temple). It's a short walk along the edge of the railway embankment to Bermondsey Street, and it's here that the change from tourist central to residential south London is complete, for Bermondsey Street is a lovely place with ne'er a tourist in sight.

Grange Walk
Grange Walk
The Vauban Estate
The Vauban Estate
St James's Church
St James's Church

By the early 1990s, Bermondsey Spa was neglected and run down. The area was badly bombed during the war and despite some house building after 1945, the area was left as something of a forgotten backwater. Apart from a few listed properties, the condition of the buildings was mostly poor, with many vacant or even derelict.

But since the arrival of the Jubilee line, the council has adopted a plan for the so-called Bermondsey Spa Regeneration Area, which involves building over 2000 new homes, 40 per cent of which will be affordable, along with two new health centres, a dentist and pharmacy, new parks, cycle parks, new offices and new shops. It'll be interesting to see how things change over the next few years.

Bermondsey station
Bermondsey station

Bermondsey to Canada Water

The bandstand in Southwark Park
The bandstand in Southwark Park

Between Bermondsey and Canada Water, just south of the shops and housing blocks of Jamaica Road, is the large expanse of Southwark Park, which makes for an enjoyable stroll after so much urban development. It was opened in 1869 by the Metropolitan Board of Works (who, among other things, built the Thames Embankment) and it was refurbished in 1998 with money from the Heritage Lottery Fund. There's an impressive bandstand in the north of the park that dates from 1884, a velvety bowling green tucked away under the plane trees, and a lake in the south of the park, though I'd turned east by this point to reach Gomm Road. This boasts a lovely row of terraced houses, one of which carries a blue plaque to Richard Carr-Gomm, founder of the Abbeyfield Society, which provides housing and support for older people.

Canada Water station
Canada Water station